Sunshine after the rain
by Shiyaki
Summary: Iruka just wants to train a bit, but everything goes downhill from there, until he makes a new friend.


**Title:** Sunshine after the rain  
**Author:** Shiyaki  
**Beta:** **alstarryn** (thank you 3)  
**Rating:** It should be K+ to T (don't really get the American rating...)  
**Warnings:** A bit angst  
**Summary:** Iruka just wants to train a bit, but everything goes downhill from there, until he makes a new friend.  
**Disclaimer:** If I would own Naruto some characters would never have died and the recent chapters would never have appeared.  
**Author note:** There will be more one-shots, which are connected to this one... I hope.

"Damn it!" One moment the sky was blue, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping in the trees—rather annoyingly, Iruka thought, and wondered if he could use them as moving targets—and the next all hell broke loose. This was not just a simple downpour, it was a full-fledged storm! The sky had gone almost stark black; sometimes it was illuminated by the zigzag of bright lightning and the wind was so strong, it made moving forward rather hard. The muddy forest soil didn't help much.

Grumpily, Iruka tried to free his vision from strands of wet, brown hair, which had escaped his usual ponytail. However, some rather big leaves decided to attack him, using the force of the raging wind, thwarted his plan He couldn't even say how far he'd come in the last five minutes or so, because the estimated visual range was less than two meters. Luckily—what could be good in a situation like this?—he hadn't gone too far away from the village for his training, but obviously far enough to almost get lost in this weather.

'Go train in your free-time," his Jounin-sensei had said, 'You need to improve your aim, so you will no longer be hindrance to your team.' Ha! Now Iruka knew, what good it did him to listen to his advisor's unbelievably nice advice. Probably he would catch a cold and then fall behind in training even more. He didn't dislike rain in general or refuse to do missions while it wouldn't stop pouring, but it was better to sit at home and enjoy the lovely wet weather from a fair—and most importantly dry—distance.

"Ouch!" The storm was no longer the main enemy, but had turned into an accomplice. Iruka had found a new one, which wasn't just annoying, but dangerous, too! A rather large tree root, had the audacity to jump into his way and to make him trip over it. The result was a angry, shaking, mud-covered genin, who nevertheless gently encompassed his hurt ankle.

"Doesn't seem to be broken...," Iruka mumbled, but clenched his teeth with a hissing sound in the next moment, after touching a more sensitive part of his foot. A couple of minutes the brown-haired boy did nothing but sit in the pouring rain. Slowly but surely, the pain subsided.

He could just _hear_ his Sensei ranting about him being too clumsy to ever become a good shinobi. It certainly wouldn't be the first time. Sometimes, Iruka suspected the man didn't like him. The reason couldn't be the prank he had pulled on him the second day after graduating from the academy, involving a skunk, black paint and a ribbon, could it?

A strange sound distracted him from his musings and if he hadn't been as near, he probably wouldn't have heard it. It sounded a bit like whining, but Iruka couldn't be sure because the rain and the wind were too loud to make out much. Slowly he crawled closer, after the sound could be heard again, and was swearing for a second time this day.

Today was certainly not his lucky day.

At all.

A thorn had found its way into his hand and if he squinted, Iruka could make out a pricky shrub attached to the offender. Now he could also see a small puppy, which had made the heartbreaking sounds, under it and winced in sympathy. The small, brownish dog seemed to have tangled itself with the shrub and was bleeding. The muzzle was red despite the rain and that couldn't be a good sign. Otherwise than that, Iruka was unable to make out the all in all condition of the puppy.

The brunet stared at the frightened, hurt animal for a couple of seconds and bit his lip in contemplation. He couldn't just leave such a small fluff-ball out here in the rain. Slowly, he extended the uninjured hand towards the shivering, still whining dog and carefully untangled the thorny branches, which had wrapped themselves around the puppy's body. The small dog was shivering harder and after its muzzle was freed and Iruka extended his hand to the animals head, the puppy sank its fangs into the proffered hand, forcing the young genin to clench his teeth again.

Yep, it was definitely not the best day in his life and the brunet vaguely wondered, what would go wrong next.

His voice was softer than he had hoped for, but loud enough to be heard: "Hey, ssscht, I won't hurt you, little one. I'll take you to my home and then tend to your wounds... and mine." Iruka really hoped the puppy would calm down fast, because the little fangs hurt like hell!

It took a couple of moments and gently spoken words, until the fangs really retreated. The brunet sighed, feeling the relieve relaxing his body, even though the wounds on both his hands still hurt. He cradled the dog, which looked up to him with still fear-filled, brownish eyes, to his chest and only now he saw some blue cloth, ragged and tangled in the shrub. Iruka didn't pay any mind to it and slowly tried to stand up.

The pain in his ankle, luckily, had almost disappeared and made it possible to resume the journey towards Konoha. If he ever found it under these conditions, that was. Another ten minutes later, the rain lessened a bit and allowed a clearer view of the surroundings. With a groan Iruka noticed, that he had gone around in a circuit the whole time and was now standing at his starting-point.

Well, maybe he had to sharpen his sense of direction a little and his aim was a bit off, too, but at least he was really good at making traps and he had a lot of theoretical knowledge stuffed into his head. He couldn't be _that_ lousy, right?

At least now he knew in which direction he had to go and this time it really worked, too. It took Iruka less than fifteen minutes to reach the gates of the village, another five to finally stand before his house. It was one of those run-down apartment buildings, which had only cold water, a lot of cracks in the walls and barely functioning heaters—if they worked at all.

He had lived here for about a year—since his graduation—and it was at least better than living in an overcrowded orphanage. Locks were useless in a village full of shinobi and Iruka didn't really own any valuable things in the first place, because the house he had lived in had been destroyed completely when the Kyuubi had attacked a bit over a year ago.

Slowly, the brunet entered his flat, leaving behind a wet trail and a big puddle of water on the floor. Home sweet home...right. It was more a canopy—he had lost his home seventeen months ago. With a deep sigh, Iruka fell onto his ragged couch, let his head fall back and closed his eyes. He didn't even pay attention to the fact, that his wet, muddy—former white—clothes were ruining the couch even more.

The way back had been too demanding and slowly the exhaustion seeped into his body to steal away the last of his strength after the equally hard training he had done before it had started to rain. The puppy, now silently watching its surroundings, had slid down into his lap. Iruka gave it a tired smile after re-opening his eyes and carefully put it next to him. "Be good and wait here for me, little one. I'll be right back." More or less enthusiastically the brunet got up and scuffled towards his bathroom to fetch the first-aid kit and a couple of towels.

A look-over informed Iruka, that all of the dog's wounds looked worse than they really were. Underneath the bloody fur were only scratches, which had been bleeding like hell, but were slowly stopping to do so. The puppy seemed to have or have had an owner, too, because a bandaged was wrapped around one of the forelegs, without even a hint of a wound. As gently as possible Iruka cleaned the scratches - and the dog in general - and wrapped bandages around those body parts, trying to ignore the whining of his small guest.

"Phew... in next to no time you will be jumping around again. Let's search for your master tomorrow, shall we?" Thoughtfully Iruka looked at the dog, which had now a brighter brown fur and a white muzzle, but still bloody spots here and there.

"Let's give you something to eat, you must be starving." Iruka went to his kitchen, which was very small and not separated from the main room at all. Opening his fridge, the brunet frowned at seeing the empty state it was in. Sighing he took out some of the rare portion of meat, he had bought from his last pay and put it on a slightly cracked plate. The puppy wagged its tail and lunged at the food. After the initial shock the brown furry ball seemed to have accepted the situation and was adapting to it.

Finally he could strip his wet, dirty clothes, open his now sloppy ponytail and dry himself off. After patching himself up and putting on some dry clothes, Iruka took the empty plate to the kitchen and rolled out the futon, which had been in one corner of the room. Yawning, the brunet rubbed his eyes, switched off the lights and laid down, letting the dog sleep on the couch.

"Good night." A wistful smile curled his lips as Iruka stared toward the dark ceiling. It had been such a long time since someone had said these words to him, hugged him, wished him a good morning and really meant it.

In moments like now, in the silent dark, he could still feel it, see it, even smell and taste it. The screaming of dying shinobi, the crashing of trees, the stuck scream in his own fear-paralysed throat, his own violent trembling and the arm around his body, which had taken him farther away from his parents.

There was hardly a night in which he didn't remember and today was no exception. His throat seemed to tighten, before the first sobbing sound could be heard, while tanned hands clenched the blanket. It would not be the last sob, but Iruka forced himself to not cry. He had cried enough, instead he should be proud, because his parents were heroes. They had died while protecting their village!

Maybe he was proud of them, but why did they have to leave him all alone?

'_**You must not cry!'**_ was one of the main rules for a shinobi, but how could he not? He missed them so much, his heart hurt every time he thought about them.

Always.

Always a smile on the outside, a prank pulled here and there, a laugh, a joke made in front of his team mates, but it was not enough. It was as if an abyss was between himself and other people. An abyss of despair and loneliness without a bridge to cross.

Another sob slipped the brunet's lips, but the next moment his breath hitched, as something wet touched his cheek. Iruka blinked in the darkness and turned his head to the side. This time the wet something touched his nose and repeated the motion a couple of times. "It's you..." he whispered and this time the smile was small, but a bit more genuine. He cradled the puppy to his chest and the small dog quietly whined and tried to lick his face again.

"Thank you..."

His heart felt a bit lighter, the lump in his throat seemed to lessen. It was such a nice feeling to be comforted by someone, even though it wasn't a human being. Maybe _because_ it wasn't a human being, which only pretended to understand, but could not. Maybe he was lucky and the puppy didn't have a master after all. Maybe... he was able to keep it. "...thank you..." he repeated even softer and was finally able to drift off to sleep.

The next morning was a typical case of 'After a storm, the sun will shine'. It wasn't warm per se—it was march after all—but at least the sun was shining brightly, as if nothing had happened. The village on the other hand was a dead give away. Roof tiles and other things were lying here and there and were already in the process of being cleaned up.

The usual fake smile rested on Iruka's lips, as he went through the streets, puppy cradled to his chest, asking all people he met, if they knew the dog's owner. Nobody seemed to know, or they weren't even listening to his questions, too busy cleaning up. Sighing the brunet decided to buy something to eat, because his fridge was now even more empty than before anyway.

Seconds before he reached the ramen stand he stopped in his tracks and stared at the older boy in front of him, who stared back with a thoughtful look. "Uh..."

"It seems, you have found my eternal rival's precious, faithful companion, which he has searched for the last ten hours. I am ENRAPTURED by your YOUTHFUL SPIRIT and WILLINGNESS to help and am HONOURED to show you the way to my ESTEEMED RIVAL'S home! If I cannot show you the way, I shall run 100 laps around the village backwards on my HANDS!"

Iruka felt blinded by the sheer force of that bright smile and took a couple of steps back just in case. The thumbs-up and this strange pose couldn't be normal, right? This sight would at least hunt him in his darkest nightmares... "And... uhm... who exactly are you?" Maybe Iruka didn't even want to know, but forget this encounter had ever happened.

"I, my YOUTHFUL FELLOW SHINOBI, am Gai Maito, 'Konoha's Noble Green Beast'!"

Iruka just blinked. And blinked again, because he could. _This_ was more terrifying than a B-class mission could ever possibly be. "So... uh... what was that about... uhm... eternal rival and so on?" The brunet barely stopped himself from biting his bottom lip. The puppy seemed to have an owner, after all. Damn! He had really hoped it wasn't the case.

"This way!" And so the Green Beast took off at a pace he could never keep up with. After a couple of other speeches of the same manner and being lost until the older boy came back after noticing he wasn't being followed, they finally were standing in front of an apartment building. Unsurprisingly it was in a much better shape than his own. It seemed to be the right one, too, because the puppy had started to wag its tail some time ago.

Now he only had to go to the right apartment and he would be all alone again. Gai had disappeared after they had arrived, but not without another blinding smile, thumbs-up and ridiculous pose.

There it was, the door, only ten meters away.

Iruka bit his lip.

Nine meters.

Iruka clenched his hands.

Eight meters.

Iruka's steps became slower.

Seven meters.

He stopped.

"Yo!"

"Wah!" With wide eyes and half a heart-attack, the brunet turned around and was face to chest with another boy... or young man. Iruka couldn't really tell with the dark mask, which covered his face. He couldn't see anything except the right eye anyway, because the left was also covered, but with the hitai'ate. The right one was a bit bloodshot, the silver-haired man seemed to really have searched for his dog the whole night.

"I... uh..."

"The green idiot told me, you've found Uhei, thanks," the older one stated monotonously and almost bored and reached out to take the obviously enthusiastic and happy puppy.

"Yes..." Now was the moment of truth and even though he should have given the dog to its rightful owner, he just couldn't! His grip tightened a bit, but Uhei squirmed out of it and jumped towards her master, wagging her tail almost faster than possible.

Iruka's arms fell to his sides and an almost silent sigh escaped his lips. "You're... welcome. Well, I will go now." With a bright—and equally forced—smile, he waved goodbye and started his way home. He could hear a whine and the next moment he was startled yet again, when the other boy appeared in front of him out of nowhere, in his arms Uhei.

"How about I treat you to lunch... you know, as a 'thank you' for finding my ninken," the older boy asked and reached up to scratch the back of his head. Iruka stared at him, dumbfounded.

"I can't acc-" A blush creeped up his cheeks, after his stomach agreed to the invitation by rumbling.

"Good! Then come on." Iruka bit his lip again, but followed nonetheless. He didn't want to be alone after all. But maybe he should ask the other boy's name. Esteemed rival just sounded embarrassing and ridiculous.


End file.
